Don't Call me Mama (9) - Labour is not that serious. Or is it?

Monday, December 25, 2017

Merry Christmas everyone. I
hope we are all staying home, having a great time with family and friends. This
fuel scarcity and traffic doesn’t have part 2, but we will still have a great
time this holiday season because we choose to not let our spirit be down. I have a Christmas gift for you towards the end of this post

We are almost at the end of
this series, and I’m very happy I went through with it. Without much talk, here
goes my labour experience.

I always thought that when
labour contractions start at home before you go to the hospital, the woman will
be screaming and sweating and rolling on the floor, then she will stop and then
start again. Or at least, if she doesn't scream, she will at least be moaning
in pain

So continuing from last edition,
when my labour started, I only knew because my contractions became more
frequent. When the castor oil kicked in the contractions, I kept walking to and
fro in a straight line in the living room for 2 hours and watching tv at the
same. When the timing between contractions shortened, I knew I was definitely
in labour. And when my mucus plug came out sometime later when I was on the
phone, I knew there was no question about it. I casually said to the guy I was
talking to on the phone

“I’m going into labour. You are
the only one who knows now. Don’t tell the others yet. I will be a mother by
this time tomorrow, and I will send you guys the picture of the baby.”

The guy was like “Oh wow,
okay… congratulations.” I’m sure he must have been confused about what to say
to me and how to respond because one minute we were discussing, and the next
thing, I tell him I’m in labour, and then we keep discussing like nothing
happened.

After this time, I wanted to
stay back home for one more hour just to be sure especially since I didn’t want
to be charged for false labour at the hospital. I guess because I wasn’t screaming
and rolling all over the floor, I didn’t want to take it too serious but my mum
convinced me that it was time to go to the hospital. It was when I got into the
car that I realised the reason I wasn’t feeling so much pain even though the
contractions were very real.

I had gone through this
process before but more severe and painful when I had the red degeneration of
fibroid, so my pregnancy contractions were like child’s play compared to it.

Before I left for the
hospital, I left a message for my husband about the development. My mother
later said I shouldn’t have done that, so that I would just come out of nowhere
and surprise him with a baby, lol. Apparently, she was just about to find out
that my husband and I are gossip buddies number 1, and found it hard to keep
things from each other. When I got to the hospital, the first nurse I met kept
looking at me with suspicion like “girllll, you can’t be in labour right now.”

She kept asking questions “when
is your due date, how severe is your pain, when was the last time you
experienced contraction/pain?”

All I heard was “yeah right! Labour indeed. Madam, go
home and don’t waste my time. You are not in labour.”

Anyway, she examined me. I expected
that I was going to be about 1cm or 2cm dilated. My people, I was 5cm gone! I was
shocked. Apparently, I had been in labour for a very long time, and I didn’t even
know. I filled some forms, and was then wheeled to the delivery ward, and they started
the whole pre delivery procedure on me, while monitoring my contractions and
the baby’s heart rate. I must say that the nurses who attended to me at the
delivery ward were angels.

While waiting to keep
dilating, they kept doing loads and loads of paperwork, and preparing me for
the delivery process. I later got an epidural even though I wasn’t screaming my
head out

1 hour later – I was still
5cm. 2 hours later, I was still 5cm, 3 hours, 4 hours, 5 hours, still 5cm. So
far I wasn’t going to have CS, I wasn’t worried. My mum kept sighing and looking
worried, and I kept telling her it would be fine since the nurses said it was common
in first time deliveries.

They later moved me from
lying on my back to my left side to see if the contraction would be better. I couldn’t
move again because the epidural had kicked in. By this time, the doctor had
broken my water and the nurse had inserted a catheter inside me. They also
moved me to my right side, still nothing.

All these while, my husband
was on whatsapp video call with us. In fact, everyone in the labour ward knew
him, and were laughing with him. He knew all the nurses by name. We were gisting about so many things, such that it was hard to believe we were actually going to be parents in a few hours. He kept
singing for me, and I had to basically force him to go to bed because it was
pretty late in Nigeria and I was getting really tired.

The attending nurse later put
an oxygen mask on me, in order to agitate the baby, I guess. And it worked because
one hour later, I was 9cm gone, and they started preparing me for delivery. Suddenly,
more nurses appeared in my room. I started hearing the clangs of several scary tools.
My mum left the room because she couldn’t stand the whole sight of blood,
babies and expanded vaginas, lol.

Next thing, the nurse said I should
start pushing. Because of the epidural, I couldn’t feel myself pushing even
though I was almost popping the veins in my head. I only knew I was applying
pressure in my chest region. But the nurse and doctor said I was pushing just
fine, so that’s all that mattered.

She would ask me to push
three times in intervals of 10 counts. She would go 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10… stop
and we would go through this process thrice. All, in all, we went through this
cycle about 8 times, meaning I pushed about 24 times. And my push was about 20 –
30 minutes.

For me, this is a major
testimony as a first time mum because many people say for their first time,
they pushed for hours about 6 hours to even over 24 hours. The worst is that
even after some women push for so long, they still went through caesarean section.
So I thank God because I know I am not better than them.

During the process of
pushing, I was informed that they would need to do an episiotomy on me (more on this next edition) because I
was too small, and they didn’t want the baby to tear me by himself lest it doesn’t
tear well. I wasn’t sure I had any choice in the matter so I agreed of course. When
the doctor came in, he prepared himself, tore me, and I continued pushing.

Once the baby’s head was out,
I pushed a bit more, and the doctor used forceps to draw the baby out. He cut
the umbilical chord, and immediately dumped the creature on me, and it felt
like he dropped a lifeless lizard or big rat on me. I didn’t hear any sound for
some seconds.

I had been expecting those
loud baby wails we see in movies and delivery videos but when the sound finally
came, all I heard was a tiny sound was almost hard to hear if one didn’t listen
well. it sounded twice, and that was the end. They took the baby from on top of
me, and went to clean him up. It was then I realised why so many nurses had
come into my room when I was about to deliver. They were taking time and different
records of the baby.

When the baby was cleaned up,
my mum raised him and showed him to me, and I thought “Mehn, this baby is ugly.”
I later told my mum this, and she said he is actually a very fine baby. Apparently,
5 minutes old baby are always ugly, and I wasn’t cutting mine some slack. It was
later I realized that my son was actually a very fine boy, and eye-turner, lol.

My son when he was five minutes old

At 8 minutes old, with a funny looking head

At 15 minutes old

At 30 minutes old, when his head had started 'rearranging' and he started looking
handsome, lol.

I was asked to breastfeed the
baby, given some apple juice, and then wheeled to the postpartum ward, really
tired and sleepy.

32 comments

Congratulations atilola. Thanks for the surprise. He is very handsome. Thank God it went well. During my second pregnancy, I dragged my foot before going to the hospital, may be because I wasn't experiencing pains as intense as the ones I had during my first pregnancy. I didn't even want to carry my delivery bag when the time came for me to go to the hospital. it was my husband that adviced me to carry it along with me. I got to the hospital and delivered less than one hour later. My husband was surprised when he got a call that I have delivered. Merry Christmas to you and your family. God bless you.

Dear Atilola,Congratulations on the arrival of your bundle of joy. I am one of your regular but anonymous readers. This is my first comment even though I have been reading for more than two years.I am sure you know you are a walking miracle. Every week as I read your don't call me Mama series, my mouth opens wider in awe of this God that we serve.I know many women who couldn't conceive because of a fibroid. Or even when the did, the fibroid squashed the baby out of the womb. Not only did you conceive, your baby forced the fibroid out, even if with much pain. Then the rhesus factor that was not detected in time. Or the late labour that could have led to induction and all the drama that goes with it.I can't thank God enough on your behalf. I am so excited by the testimony of your pregnancy and birth. May this be the beginning of signs and wonders that God will use your family to display.Take care of yourself and the little one.

Wow. Never read a real detailed account of delivery b4. Women will just b like "it's better experienced than expressed" I'm like "wateva" . Thanks for your account. It's like reassuring especially as I prepare for mine soon. God bless your testimony and make it permanent and continuous. Congrats on delivering such a cutie......

Trust me, if I can do it, you can. I always feared childbirth, even more than death. But see me now. I think demystifying it was the first step to my liberation from the fear. Thank God I've been able to help a bit.

AwwwwHe's cute!! Lol @ funny looking head. A woman is prompted to push when she's fully dilated. If that stage passes a specific time(1-2hours), it becomes delayed second stage of labour and an immediate intervention (forceps delivery or a cs) is needed to save the baby's life. Women can labour for hours but not push for (more than 2)hours.